Preparation and Characterization of CuO-TiO2 Composite Hollow Nanospheres with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Under Visible Light Irradiation

CuO-TiO2 composite hollow nanospheres were synthesized using polystyrene as a template. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the average diameter, shell thickness, crystalline structure, and composition of CuO-TiO2 composite hollow nanospheres. UV-vis absorption spectrum was used to measure the optical absorption property of the CuO-TiO2 composite hollow nanospheres. The photocatalytic performance of the samples was characterized by degrading 10 mg.L-1 methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the CuO-TiO2 composite hollow nanospheres exhibited better photocatalytic performance than the pure TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2 hollow nanospheres. The improvement in photocatalytic performance was attributed to the enhanced light absorption in the visible light region.